U13 Hurling Tournament – 10/8

Shamrocks took part in the Pat Laverty U13 Hurling Memorial Tournament organised and hosted by Crosshaven on a beautiful Saturday afternoon last.

Shamrocks, Passage, Clondrohid and the host club Crosshaven made up the teams and all 4 teams played 2 matches each.

Shamrocks played Passage in the semi final. Passage were way too big, old (all 13 year olds) and strong for Shamrocks, who featured a sprinkling of u10’s, 11’s, 12’s and three u13’s. However, they never gave up against their stronger opponents and battled away until the end. Final score was Passage 3-14 to Shamrocks 0-5. Harry Andrews (u10) was Shamrocks only scorer in that game.

So it was on to play Clondrohid in the plate final after a 15 minute break. Clondrohid had earlier been beaten by Crosshaven in the other semi final.

This was an absolute cracker of a game, with scores coming literally by the minute. Clondrohid won by the odd point in 43, 2-16 to 4-9. The lads found this level more to their liking and really enjoyed the experience. Everyone got on the ball and it was evident that some of the younger players were gaining confidence from being exposed to live action.

Two players really stood out in this game – the Clondrohid centre fielder (Seán Desmond) who was excellent throughout. He had everything and Shamrocks tried a whole host of different players to stop him, but to no avail. He constantly soloed down the middle and popped over easily 13/14 points and scored a goal as well.

At the other end, the Shamrocks mentors of Pa Andrews and John Jordan, knew thet they lacked scoring power. So they put Seán Andrews (u11) at corner forward from the start, almost as an expirement. It worked, especially in the first half. Sean scored a whopping 3-5 from play in those 20 minutes. It contributed to Shamrocks leading by 2 points at halftime.

The second half saw Clondrohid get on top and they moved 5 points clear. Shamrocks had an extra player and to be fair to everyone and to give everyone the same game time, they substituted a different player every 2 minutes. This definately had an unsettling effect on the shape of the team and it showed.

With 3 minutes to go, Clondrohid were 5 points up. Shamrocks once again burst forward and scored 1-1 to bring them back to 1 point down. However, referee Brian Keniry blew his full time whistle shortly afterwards.

Afterwards, the players got medals and refreshments and our thanks go to Crosshaven for inviting us down and making it a great day for our young hurlers. Despite the results, it was a successful day out and with the target of at least 7 hurling matches for this team getting ever closer, the mentors are happy. Each player on Saturday got at least 70 minutes of hurling in. Still, some players need tonnes of work, especially at home against the wall – in fact they all do. You can never get enough hurling practice!

Our thanks to the players and parents for going down and supporting the tournament. Also well done to Mark Andrews. Mark is the son of our former player and legend himself Bernard Andrews, formerly of Ringaskiddy but living over in Windsor in England for a good few years now. Mark is home on holidays to meet all his cousins and played his first ever hurling match today. You wouldnt have thought it! He got stuck in right from the off and even managed to get on the scoreboard as well. Shamrocks will be approaching our esteemed Club Treasurer to get funds to fly Mark home every summer for the matches!